World's richest woman Liliane Bettencourt dies aged 94

Bettencourt's daughter Francoise ruled out the possibility of her family distancing away from L'Oreal in wake of her mother's demise.

The cosmetics giant's principal shareholder died at the age of 94.

"We all had a deep admiration for Liliane Bettencourt, who always looked after L'Oréal - the company and its employees, and was dedicated to its success and development", said Jean-Paul Agon, L'Oreal's president.

Liliane Bettencourt, the world's richest woman, has died, her family said Thursday.

Liliane Bettencourt was the only child of Eugene Schueller, who founded L'Oreal in the early 20th century.

Bettencourt ranked as the 14th richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine, which estimated her net worth in March at US$39.5 billion (33 billion euros).

Bettencourt long enjoyed the company of artists, and her Bettencourt-Schueller foundation funded a range of films and art projects over the years, in addition to medical research and literacy projects.

Over the past years, Bettencourt was involved in a number of court battles.

She inherited L'Oreal after her father died in 1957 and ran the company for more than five decades. When the company went public six years later, she continued to own a majority stake.

Francois-Marie Banier, of manipulating the elderly widow into giving him artwork and cash.

Sarkozy's former campaign treasurer, Eric Woerth, was acquitted on charges of "abuse of weakness" and taking donations from Bettencourt during the 2007 presidential election campaign.